stevieni22

Guest

LE

It appears to be 4 seats in the end - down from 5 in the previous Dail

Despite the fact that they claimed to be carrying out their "armed struggle" on be half of the Irish people they never actually consulted us on this at any point - which probably shows what they really think of the rest of us.

Besides which their economic policies are so loony-left they only appeal to some naive leftie student types and to people who are too thick/illiterate to know what an economic policy is.

LE

In the 2002 general election, SF outpolled the Greens, 8% to 7.2% and in physical votes, 40450 to 36501. This was the springboard for SF to take the European seat from the Greens with the party adding 6% and 20,000 votes to their tally. However, on Thursday the Greens effectively reversed the 2002 position taking 8.2% to Sinn Feinâs 7% and in physical votes, 41813 to 35256. So in party rankings the Greens are now fourth and SF fifth in the Dublin party league table.

In the Six Counties the IRA having finally put the pike in the thatch was a big vote winner for SF. The fact the Northern Catholics were impatiently eager for peace, they'd suffered more than enough. Even the arrival of Big Ian as supreme leader has gone down like a smooth pint of stout.

I suspect the reverse is true with a part of their base down South. Reading the Irish press it seems SF are stronger in the rural areas than urban, they lose out to labour in the cities. A watery eyed nationalist constituency really. A fair slice of these folk will be lovers of the Long Rifles who never saw a car bombing and are still clinging to the romance of the ra.

Oddly SF are far more likely to successfully collaborate with the DUP than any of the Southern parties. The DUP is another fiercly anti-EU party, now completly commited to devolution of power to Stormont and is prone to policies most Freestaters would regard as disturbingly Socialist. The DUP are the 4th largest party in their national parliment of choice rather than the fifth... ho, ho, ho.

That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!

LE

The majority of voters in the Republic are content and happy that the Northern Ireland question appears to have been settled. Perhaps Bertie Ahern might even have enjoyed a minor 'bounce' from his walk across the Battle of the Boyne site with Ian Paisley or his historic address to the British houses of Parliament during the election campaign. However, out on the stump, across the Republic virtually no one canvassed by the major parties brought up the issue of Northern Ireland.

The biggest irony of all is that in Belfast and in Dublin there are now two parties controlling most of the levers of power that are organisationally very similar. On the surface it might seem absurd that Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party is akin to the Fianna Fail-the Republican Party. Yet both parties have eschewed ideological certainties: the DUP quietly abandoning its rigid Protestant fundamentalism; Fianna Fail ditching its deep green nationalism and accepting the reality of the Northern Ireland state. In doing so they have moved to the centre ground in their respective states and won over new middle-class converts. No wonder then that when the two men meet, Ahern and Paisley display very open public affection for each other. After all, they run similar populist party political machines that deliver success at the polls and the power of or office.

LE

It appears to be 4 seats in the end - down from 5 in the previous Dail

Despite the fact that they claimed to be carrying out their "armed struggle" on be half of the Irish people they never actually consulted us on this at any point - which probably shows what they really think of the rest of us.

Besides which their economic policies are so loony-left they only appeal to some naive leftie student types and to people who are too thick/illiterate to know what an economic policy is.

LE

It appears to be 4 seats in the end - down from 5 in the previous Dail

Despite the fact that they claimed to be carrying out their "armed struggle" on be half of the Irish people they never actually consulted us on this at any point - which probably shows what they really think of the rest of us.

Besides which their economic policies are so loony-left they only appeal to some naive leftie student types and to people who are too thick/illiterate to know what an economic policy is.

LE

Mick Fealty, a bit of a Chuckie himself, on Slugger is getting savage now:

In the recent Assembly elections the Alliance Party garnered 5.2% of the vote and took seven seats in an Assembly of 109 members. Sinn Fein took 6.9% of Thursdayâs vote, which brought them just four seats out of a total of 166 in DÃ¡il Ãireann.
...The sheer foreign-ness of the party to most southerners is a major problem. Adams almost completely ignored Roisin Duffyâs question on This Week today that the widely held perception of the party was as âpolitical touristsâ whose political legitimacy is part underwritten by their status as MPs, ie the Westminster parliament, and not the DÃ¡il. There is little doubt that the heavily accented northern leadership is becoming increasingly incongruent to southern voters.

The Alliance Party is avowedly and genuinely non-sectarian and so is doomed to wander lonely at the margins Ulsters tribal politics.

He's spot on about SF's alien intrusion into southern politics. The old Belfast bomb throwers are as about as welcome in the sleek south as the 82nd Airborne in Fallujah judging by the reactions I get taking to young Freestaters about them.

That's the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!

LE

They are also avowedly and genuinely so upper-middle class that the majority of their members/supporters are unable to understand why the 'Irish Problem' cannot be resolved over wine and nibbles at Cressida's place....

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me"

War Hero

LE

They are also avowedly and genuinely so upper-middle class that the majority of their members/supporters are unable to understand why the 'Irish Problem' cannot be resolved over wine and nibbles at Cressida's place....

LE

No, Fine Gael were not originally "facist Brown Shirts". Upon the foundation of the party in September 1933, it brought together three broadly conservative Irish political parties/groups - Cumann na nGaedhael, the Centre Party and the Army Comrades Association; the latter are more widely remembered as the Blueshirts. There were certainly fascist overtones to the Blueshirts (uniforms etc.) and its leader General Eoin ODuffy was certainly a fascist, but the major historical studies conducted on the movement conclude that they were not a fascist organisation comparable to what was the norm in Europe in the 1930s. The Blueshirts were originally formed to counter a widely held belief that the advent of the first Fianna Fáil government in 1932 would lead to anarchy, the IRA (increasingly Communist during this period) being given free reign, the targeting of former Cumann na nGaedhael politicans and supporters, and reprisals against former Free State Army soldiers. In practical terms, the Blueshirts provided protection to Cumann na nGaedhael speakers at political rallies, as the IRA and Fianna Fáil supporters (whose catch-cry was "no free speech for traitors!") made a point of disrupting such gatherings. Beyond this, the Blueshirts drew support from large farmers who were very hard hit when De Valera instigated the Economic War against Britain (1933-3, which crippled the country and exacerbated the suffering experienced during the Great Depression.

The choice of blue for the ACA's uniform reflected two things  St. Patrick's blue and the colours of the Virgin Mary. Militant Catholicism was a particular hallmark of the Blueshirts, added to which was a strong anti-Communism; both these factors came together at the time of the Spanish Civil War, when O'Duffy formed a 700-strong Irish Brigade to fight for the Nationalists (excluding the Italians and Germans, this was the largest foreign contingent on the Nationalist side).

Any statements I make while using this website are purely of my own opinion and are not to be construed as statements of fact and are not said with any intended malice. My opinions are a reflection of my earned right to freedom of expression and speech and do not necessarily reflect that of the site owners.

LE

Blueshirts and greenshirts actually...O'Duffy's volunteers for the Spanish Civil War formed the backbone of Fine Gael, before he set up his National Corporate Party. They might argue they weren't fascists but fighting for catholicism, however as the old joke goes, "what's the difference between the SS and the Jesuits? One is a fanatical elite, doctrinally monolithic organisation in smart black uniforms, the other were German soldiers..."

They used to say if an infinite number of chimps typed we would get the works of Shakespeare, the internet has proved this is NOT the case...

LE

Beyond this, the Blueshirts drew support from large farmers who were very hard hit when De Valera instigated the Economic War against Britain (1933-3, which crippled the country and exacerbated the suffering experienced during the Great Depression.

LE

I take it the irish legion in spain was welcomed and put to use rather than shot for being the wrong sort of ideology which the republicians side tended to do? Always struck me as odd first win the war then squabble
seemed much saner approach ? sorry for the derail.